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The failure rate of international construction joint venture (ICJV) projects has been noted to be high in developing countries due to the complexity and risky nature of construction projects in the international market. The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate the risks facing ICJV projects in Ghana.

A risk register was developed through a comprehensive literature review. The identified risks were then used in a questionnaire survey involving local and foreign partners in ICJV projects in Ghana.

From a total of 74 risks identified, categorized into country-level risks, market-level risks and project-level risks, the “top ten” risks found to be the most critical risks facing ICJV projects in Ghana include unstable currency exchange rates, inflation, design changes, high-interest rate, budget overrun, cash flow problems of the client, economy fluctuation, difficulty in obtaining approval of projects from host government authorities/bureaucracy, potential financial distress of JV partner and bribery and corruption.

This study provides a comprehensive list of risks ICJV partners are likely to encounter on their projects in developing countries. Furthermore, this study improves on one of the major limitations of previous ICJV studies by collecting data from both partners of the ICJV, appropriate for cross-cultural examination and comparison.

Equitable risk allocation is important for the effective management of inevitable risks in International Construction Joint Venture (ICJV) projects. Previous studies have documented risks facing ICJV projects. However, there is a dearth of studies on the risk allocation preferences that take into consideration the opinions of both the local and foreign partners. This study aims to fill this gap by ascertaining the risk allocation preferences of the partners of ICJV projects for effective risk management.

Through a survey, data on risk allocation preferences were collected from both local and foreign partners of ICJV projects using a comprehensive register of 74 risks.

Following analysis, six risks were allocated to the local partner, 11 were allocated to the foreign partner, 51 risks were shared, four were allocated to a third party and two were to be negotiated based on the specific circumstances of the project. Practically, the study’s findings will help ICJV partners in drafting their ICJV contracts to adequately allocate risks and reduce contract negotiation time considerably.

The findings from this study will help partners in drafting their joint venture contract agreement and also reduce the period for contract negotiation. Knowledge of the preferred risk allocation is important in allocating risks in the contract agreement to the relevant partner for effective management.

This study, to the best knowledge of the authors, is one of the early studies to ascertain the risk allocation preferences of ICJV project partners in the Ghanaian construction industry – a departure from previous studies which focused on the identification and evaluation of risks. This study is also different from previous studies by considering the allocation preferences of both partners of the ICJV. The collection of data from both partners of the ICJV helped to consider their perceptions on risk allocation and evaluation, essentially leading to cross-cultural and optimal risk allocation preferences.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Managerial Competence Functional Background of Top Management Teams (FBTMT), Management Control Systems (MCS), Contextual Factors of Planning System (CFPSY) and Cashflow Management Behaviour (CFMB) in the tourism sector in Uganda.

This is a correlational and cross-sectional study utilising a sample of 211 tourism firms (tour operator firms and hotels) and using a questionnaire to enlist responses. Data are analysed using SPSS software.

Results show significant relationships between managerial competence, functional background of top management teams, management control systems, contextual factors of planning system and cashflow management behaviour. Among the independent variables, management control systems is the best predictor of cash flow management behaviour in tourism firms. It is also a significant mediator in the link between management competence and cash flow management behaviour and that between the functional background of top management teams and cashflow management behaviour.

Appropriate cashflow management behaviour of actors in operating, investing and financing activities of tourism firms can be improved through highly developed management competence, strong management control systems, utilisation of varied functional background of top management teams and enabling contextual factors of the planning system. The study operationally defined cash flow management behaviour as any management behaviour that is relevant to cash flow management in a firm's operating, investing and financing activities probably for the first time and this speaks to those financial statement analysts and other stakeholders wishing to infer cash flow management behaviours from the statement of cash flows.

As far as we are aware, no research has been done on the relationship between the cash flow management behaviour of tour operator companies and hotels in Uganda's tourism sector and the internal contingencies of managerial competence, functional background of top management teams, management control systems, and contextual factors of the planning system.

The Metaverse, a dynamic convergence of real and digital spaces powered by Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), presents a transformative frontier for businesses to expand consumer engagement. It offers a three-dimensional web-powered realm where users can immerse themselves in real-life scenarios and simulations from the convenience of their own devices, fostering real-time interaction and uninterrupted business operations. Integrating technologies like VR, AR, Cloud, Blockchain, and IoT, the Metaverse has already made significant strides across industries, providing consumers with unique digital experiences. Businesses can leverage this to enhance their brand awareness, establish stronger customer connections, and provide immersive shopping experiences, making traditional advertising appear antiquated. Major global companies have already embraced this technology, and the Metaverse represents an innovative digital platform with limitless possibilities, rapidly evolving with enabling technologies. This chapter delves into the potential of the Metaverse to bolster brand development and its recent growth, exploring the practical applications for businesses in the near future.

The purpose of this paper is to inform readers who are interested in textbooks, sports and sports economics, but especially professors who teach sports economics, about the coverage of sports in principles of economics textbooks.

The data in the paper consist of the 130 sections on sports from twenty-one principles of economics textbooks. The paper illuminates the sections using numerous quotations and in-text references. The paper details the number of sections devoted to each sport, economic concepts they illuminate and how the text covers topics such as league rules, broadcast revenues and women in sports.

The paper finds that the 21 textbook authors devote an average of 934 words in an average of 6.2 sections of text to 11 sports. Sections of text vary from one sentence to lengthy discussions of topics such as increased salaries due to technological advances in broadcasting, antitrust cases, the gender pay gap and bargaining between leagues and players' unions. The authors refer to five published research papers on sports economics, two quantitative books, two quantitative articles in the popular press and one nonquantitative nonfiction book.

This paper provides data to researchers who study sports regarding topics that students are being taught in economics texts. It is a potential tool for connecting their areas of research to the university experience.

Sports economics professors, and other professors, may enhance student interest by a choice of text for their principles classes.

Sports coverage in principles texts illuminates topics such as the effect of technology on income distribution, the morality of paying college athletes, the interaction of the legal system and markets and the gender gap.

No other publicly referenced paper details the use of sports in principles textbooks.

This study examines how assurors make sense of sustainability assurance (SA) work and how interactions with assurance team members and clients shape assurors’ sensemaking and their actual SA work.

To obtain detailed accounts of how SA work occurs on the ground, this study explores three SA engagements by interviewing the main actors involved, both at the client firms and at their Big Four assurance providers.

Individual assurors’ (i.e. partners and other team members) sensemaking of SA work results in the crafting of their logics of action (LoAs), that is, their meanings about the objectives of SA work and how to conduct it. Without organizational socialization, team members may not arrive at shared meanings and deviate from the team-wide assurance approach. To fulfill their objectives for SA work, assurors may engage in socialization with clients or assume a temporary role. Yet, the role negotiations taking place in the shadows of the scope negotiations determine their default role during the engagement.

Two options are available to help SA statement users gauge the relevance of SA work: either displaying the SA work performed or making it more uniform.

This study theoretically grounds how assurors make sense of SA work and documents how (the lack of) professional socialization, organizational socialization and socialization of frequent interaction partners at the client shape actual SA work. Thereby, it unravels the SA work concealed behind SA statements.

The sociology and history of sport have neglected Pacific swimming cultures and their impact on global recreational and sporting cultures. This chapter explores the potential for deeper analysis of Pacific contributions to aquatic recreational practices via Solomon Islands swimming. The focus is on the contributions and representations of Alick Wickham (1886–1967), a Solomon Islander who lived in Australia during the first three decades of the 20th century. Wickham, who was a champion swimmer and diver recognised nationally and internationally for his abilities, is popularly credited with introducing the crawl, or freestyle, stroke to swimming competition. While some commentators acknowledge that Wickham's crawl stroke was a practice called tapatapala in his home, Roviana, on New Georgia in the western Solomons, and that some of his other techniques and styles had Solomon Islands origins, little attention is paid to these Pacific cultural antecedents. This chapter examines Wickham's styles, reflects on their Roviana influences, and asks why these Pacific dimensions of his aquatic practices were, and continue to be, overlooked. This marginalisation of Pacific swimming cultures is analysed through the lenses of prevailing racial hierarchies and whiteness as a dominant discourse that continues to privilege white Australia development of the crawl stroke over its Solomons origins and elides other water practices that influenced Wickham.